[Should fasting prior to ultrasound examination of the gallbladder, the biliary ducts and the pancreas have to include not-drinking?]. / Skal faste før ultralydundersøgelse af galdeblaere, galdeveje og bugspytkirtel omfatte tørst?

From May to September 1991, 49 patients were examined by ultrasound (Picker CS 9000, 3.5 MHz curved array transducer) before and 30 minutes after drinking 150 ml of water. The volume of the gallbladder decreased significantly from a mean of 23.4 ml to 20.1 ml (p = 0.04). No significant change was found either between the visualisation of the gallbladder and bileducts (0.20 > p > 0.10) or the visualisation of the pancreas (0.40 > p > 0.30). However in 10 patients with cholelithiasis, the calculi were only seen in eight patients after drinking water. Thus, it must still be recommended that patients neither eat nor drink for four hours prior to an ultrasound examination of the gallbladder.

[A complication of oleothorax--after 38 years]. / Komplikation til oleothorax--38 år efter.

We present a case-history of a 50 year-old woman who 38 years earlier had been operated for pulmonary tuberculosis by plugging of the pleural cavity with oil (oleothorax). She developed a tumour under the scapula, which it turned out was due to migration of the oil plug to the subscapular area, an unusual complication to oleothorax. Other complications are described.

The etiology and possible treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome/fibromyalgia.

It is suggested that chronic fatigue syndrome/fibromyalgia is caused by virus injury to the calcium channels leading to larger quantities than usual of calcium ions entering the striated muscle cells. Should this be true, then treatment with a calcium antagonist (CA) may possibly be of value.

[Focal fatty liver. A dilemma of differential diagnosis in ultrasonography and CT]. / Fokal fedtlever. Et differentialdiagnostisk dilemma ved ultralydundersøgelse og CT.

Based on four cases and relevant background literature we partly want to draw attention to the occurrence of focal fatty liver (FFL) and its manifold appearances in connection with ultrasonography (US) and computed tomography (CT), and partly to point out possible pitfalls in US-diagnosis of the liver in cases of extensive fatty liver, where the residual foci of normal liver may incorrectly be interpreted as abnormal lesions. US and CT examination of FFL may cause differential diagnostic problems with risk of misinterpretation and erroneous diagnosis, especially if the phenomenon is unknown. In cases of doubt in US examination, where the uncharacteristic findings together with patient information indicate further examinations, additional CT is first of all recommended. If this still brings no clarity to the diagnosis, the clinical condition in every case will prescribe whether to undertake additional CT after a few weeks or immediately carry out US/CT guided liver biopsy. Current as well as formerly presented research shows that FFL is mainly located in the right hepatic lobe, and possible reasons for that are discussed.